Jon Kyl's 26-year career on Capitol Hill officially ends this week, and Arizona will lose an influential and hardworking senator whose legacy, particularly on water policy, could help shape the state for decades.

Sometime before 2:30 a.m. on Sept. 30, in the desert in far western Arizona, a concrete slab buckled and gave way. The slab lined the edge of the Central Arizona Project Canal, and as it broke, millions of gallons of water began to gush, unchecked, into the silent darkness.

Accounts of Arizona's history weave a tapestry of races and nationalities that overcame formidable environmental hardships, survived cruel bigotry and finally blended into the fabric of a diverse state in the last half of the 20th century.